Chapter two

Ariah's POV

I couldn’t sleep all night and Nina kept me company, I was so excited for what the next day was going to bring. We chatted all night about this and that, and although I had tried to bring up the topic that had been bothering me all day about the Royal Packhouse and the Alpha of our pack, Nina dismissed it and changed the topic. But that didn’t make me less enthusiastic about finding my mate, I had no other choice, it was the only way I could get out of here and finally say, ‘To hell with you Mrs. Sheldon, you sound like a man!’

Miss Sheldon knew everyone’s birthday, but none was ever celebrated. In her words, “Why should I celebrate the day my miseries started?” 

Nina revealed to me that she never had a mate and all her life, she had been bound to the Pack's orphanage. 

 “That’s probably why she’s this mean and grumpy all the time,” Nina suggested.

“True, but common Nina, be frank with me. If the Moon goddess gave you Miss Sheldon as a mate, wouldn’t you rather be mate-less?” I asked and we laughed so loudly, I was afraid we were going to wake everyone else.

“Are you saying her mate ran away?” Nina asked, struggling to contain her laughter.

“If it were me, nothing would stop me from running away. I’d have to be gay to agree to be Miss Sheldon’s mate.” I replied and we burst into another round of laughter.

At midnight, Nina poured down birthday wishes on me and revealed something to me that sent my heart racing with excitement.

“Come closer.” She whispered, gesturing for me to lean in. “There’s something I haven’t told you, I didn’t want you to get too scared or excited.”

“I’ll scratch your face if you keep this suspense on,” I warned.

“Okay, okay. On the eighteenth birthday of every Omega, Miss Sheldon sends her to the Royal Packhouse to deliver a message to the Beta.” Nina said and paused to see if I had anything to say, she continued. “This message is your profile. It’ll be given to you in a brown Manila envelope and the Beta wouldn’t even have to go through it, he’ll know that you would be serving at the Royal house from the next day.”

“Woah!” I exclaimed as a feeling of euphoria and excitement spread through me. “That’s awesome!”

Nina frowned and shook her head, “Really? Woah? After all I’ve told you about that place, you go woah?”, She asked, visibly disappointed.

“Well, I can’t avoid it, can I?” I grinned at her.

I slept peacefully that night, with a smile plastered on my face. The next day was going to be a day that would change my life forever, I wasn’t entirely wrong eventually.

I was woken up by the bell, but this time, I was happy and I went about my morning with a smile spread across my face. Even when we gathered in the courtyard, I paid rapt attention to the gibberish about values Miss Sheldon was saying. Whenever she looked at me, I was smiling and I could tell she felt uneasy by the way she averted her eyes. I loved the way being happy made her feel uncomfortable, what made it even better was the fact that I did it effortlessly and genuinely. I waited on my bunk nervously for about three hours before Miss Sheldon finally called me into her dusty, stuffy office. It was stacked with rows of shelves with books she never read, that were covered in dust and cobwebs.

“So, you’re eighteen huh, Ariah.” She started and I nodded with a smile. She regarded me for a while before continuing. “It’s a special age for omegas, have you heard about it?” She asked, squinting questioningly at me with her cold eyes.

I shook my head, “Not at all, Miss Sheldon.”

“Then I suppose you have no idea what’s in this brown Manila envelope, do you?” She asked and again I shook my head. “Very well you delinquent, take this envelope to the Royal Packhouse, and don’t make a fool of yourself. The guards won’t help you, take the stairs to the first floor and knock gently on the sixth brown door by your left.”

I closed my eyes, letting her words sink in so I wouldn’t forget a thing. Then she threw the envelope at me and as I walked out, she said,

 “Put on something better, you’re garbage but you don’t have to look like it. Come straight to my office when you’re back.”

Little did I know that I was never going to see her again.

I rolled my eyes as I walked out of her office. Getting to the golden gates of the pack house, my heart was thumping with excitement. The guards at the door took one look at the envelope and parted to let me in. I walked up the stairs, clothed with a red Persian rug, and on the first floor, there were fourteen doors by the left. Seven were white, the other seven, brown. On the sixth brown door, I knocked gently and a rich baritone voice asked me to come in.

The Beta of the pack looked at the envelope and smiled. He was a man in his thirties with a hawk-like face that managed to be handsome. He smiled at me and took the envelope.

“Ariah.” I was surprised that he knew my name and my eyes widened. “You’ll be starting as one of the Royal omegas tomorrow.” That was all he said and I was dismissed.

I skipped down the stairs happily, I was thrilled beyond words and in my trans to happiness, I was oblivious to my surroundings. I bumped into someone at the foot of the stairs and I immediately felt a current run through me, it was as if I had just touched a live wire. It was the best sensation I had ever felt. I looked up to find a man glaring at me, he was young, not older than twenty-three and he held a golden crown on his head.

“Oh my! Alpha James!” I cried and got to my knees.

Then he grabbed my arm viciously and let go immediately as another spark ignited between us. A look of shock was written all over his face and my eyes widened at the realization of what was going on. Nina had said that was how her late grandma had described such an occurrence to me and I beamed with disbelief as I looked up at him. The sensation was the mate bond. The Alpha of the pack was my mate! It was a fairy tale to me.

“Alpha Jam-”

“No! It can’t be! You can’t be the mate of the Alpha of this pack! You low life!” He suddenly bellowed and I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. He stared at me, breathing heavily.

“But, I felt it. I felt the bond between us.” I said, looking into his hazel eyes with desperation.

“No! Stop saying nonsense!” he turned to the hefty men behind him. “Guards! Take her away!”

A moment later, strong hands seized me and I went limp in their grip. Fear gripped my heart, it was the last time I saw the light of the sun in a long while.